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Visiting Kyoto has been a wonderful experiance, a mixture of old and new, buildings stand together in traditional and modern suite. Geishas walk the streets, adorned by tourists and locals alike. Women coming of age reaching 20, classed as adults now, wander hand in hand with counterparts in official Kimono and hakama dress. Called the coming of age ceremony twenty is the age which the young are considered adult and able to make love, smoke and drink. A really exciting time for the rule abieders. This Monday is the official day to display and be seen in some of the most beautiful dress wear I have had the pleasure of seeing. Colours from the female dress stand out among the already well dressed locals and the males stand proud with their loved ones looking dapper alas less colourful as not to steal impact from their spouse.
The city boasts millions of tourists each year, even in winter this hustle and bustle city begs to be explored. Streets are a mix of skyrise buildings wide pavements and roads, you turn a corner and old age Japan jumps into your peripherals with stealth. Here I had a good drink a good walk and a dam fine haircut. But please read on for the fun stuff..
Kyoto is famed for its natural outstanding beauty, temples and man made gardens. East of the centre you are able trek a trail though ancient temples and shrines leading you from city base to hillside. Streets are alive, people eating, praying, taking pictures and soaking up the surrounding beauty. Taxis hum up and down the hillside delivering people from shrine to city creating an atmosphere to that of a town in motion.
During my stay, I visited the imperial palace, an hour north of the hostel Trip sound where I was made very welcome by Youp and Nayoshi. Being a weekend, the palace was closed to the public, pictures helped visualise what I was missing inside the palace walls. Outside the palace gardens sprawl out 300 year old cedars. Pines stand tall against the backdrop of the modern surrounds and the gardens are moving with joggers, cyclists and early bird nature lovers out in minority's, appearing for the moment, disappearing in a blink of an eye.
The gardens have signs and boards up displaying the various array of flora and fauna available during the year, many herbaceous varieties still stand as winter ghosts providing an idea of beauty gone by as the cold approaches, and a new season begins. Hawks circle the area looking for prey as small birds take refuge within the confines of small shrubs and streams.
This area of Kyoto is where much of the Buddhism philosophy and its integration into Japanese history and culture started, the complete details had been locked away, as i am sure there are answers withinnthe palace walls this ensures my return in time to investigate further.
The brief visit to the gardens did not leave me disappointed, wondering out towards the city streets, smiling as I developed a new plan for my day. Judging by the map, a forty minute walk would take me to the beginning of the shine and temple walk which so many have travelled before me. Excited to find the beauty and interest which had drawn me to Kyoto I made my way along the quiet sunday streets towards the top of the hillside where I would start my trip.
At the beginning of the walk, first temple I arrived at was Sho-ren-in one of five Monzeki temples of Tendai Kyoto. The word Tendai or concept came about from a Chinese monk who brought a sort of framework for Buddhism to Japan in the 8th century, this was not commonly accepted until later in the millennia this the start to the puzzle where trying to understand Buddhist teachings and their origin are concerned. I am still scratching at the surface regarding my knowledge regarding Buddhism so I will stop here. But significantly these temples were closely linked to the imperial palace as the original monks who lived there were members of lmperial family.
The gardens created a sense of grace and elegance that I could only imagine possible, truly an ideal garden space to find peace in. The area so tranquil, built utilising the base of Mt. Awata by three artitects over the Muromachi period the three names So-ami, Enshu Kobori and Yu-hi Omori. Each contributed to various areas of the temple gardens, utilising styles commonly found in the Edo Period such as large stones, water features and pathways. Being a temple greatly connected to the imperial family the whole structure was just so elegant. I am slowly getting to the end of my trip with Hiroshima next and then who knows.. I will leave you with a type out from my collected documents painting a picture of what the gardens entailed.
In the main part of the garden there is a pond, ryujin-no-ike, surrounded by the three buildings Ko-gosho, Kacho-den(guesthouse) and Kobun-tei. On the south side of the pond there is a basin of a waterfall, Sensin-no-taki, using the slope of Mount Awata. On the East side of the grounds there is a small hill with a mildly curved line. This small hill can often be seen in the drawings of Sotatsu or the ones of the Tosa school.
On the south side, the rim of the pond stretches south between the base of the mountain and the building running under the roof edge of Ko-gosho. At the narrow part of the pond near Ko-gosho you can see a semi circle stone bridge designed with innovative creativity.
In Ryujin-no-ike, there is a big stone located in the centre of the pond . the shape of this stone looks like a dragon bathing whilst turning its head back. The westside facing the waterfall basin, is a big blue stone used for worshiping.
While the configuration of the garden follows Tsukiyama Sensui-tei, the mainstream design of traditional Japanese gardens were created during the Heian era. This garden follows novel ideas which may have seemed eccentric at the time but in fact created a sense of harmonious balance proving the brilliance of the artistic designer. The trees which cover the mountain slope show beautiful scenery around the year ranging from yellow, greens, oranges and reds. Many stones used in the creation of the pond were collected from the mountain at the suburb of Kyoto and blue stones were collected from Kishu, elegant lines and bright colours add picturese beauty and mild tastes to the landscape.
In front of the connecting corridor close to Ko-gosho, there is a basin made by a straight line natural stone. This stone basin fills the area with valiant atmoshspere and is known as ichimonji-chozubachin donated by Hideyoshi Toyotomi. There is also a stone later donated by the same in the azelea garden.
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